A day after accusing Mike Phillips of "treason", Bayonne's chairman Alain Afflelou has again waded into the debate about his sacking the player and hit out at those who have criticised the decision.

Afflelou told L'Equipe: "Mike was warned. Last year, he was punished for the same offence. He told me then: 'I give you my word that this won't happen again - never, ever'. So it didn't serve as a lesson for him, or as an example for the others.

"But we can't accept everything and anything either. Should be kept because he is supposed to be a better player? I don't agree with that. I think and I hope that this decision is going to weld the group and that the players will have understood that we are sick of this shit ... the club, its management, the public are behind them on condition that they conduct themselves properly and with dignity on and off the pitch."

"I find it shocking that professional players say that arriving in the video room having drunk too much is not shocking. There is no excuse. When you are a professional player at this level, you cannot drink. It's silly to have to say it, it's so obvious."

Asked by L'Equipe if there was a drinking culture in sport, Afflelou said that was not the case. "I have worked with high level sport at Bordeaux, Strasbourg and Creteil and in football, the guys do not mix and don't entertain themselves by drinking alcohol. You can relax without drinking.